2011

News and Press Releases 2011

News and Press Releases 2011

A different kind of immigration problem
(26.12.2011) A coalition of researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and staff from the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre have created a unique quantitative method that enables researchers and others to assess the environmental risks posed by non-native species. While the method is tailored to the Norwegian environment, it can easily be adapted to other countries, and fills a vital need internationally for a quantifiable, uniform approach to classifying and assessing alien species, the developers say

Beliefs battle hypertension
(23.12.2011) As you are weighing whether or not to go to church services this Christmas, consider this: Does a belief in God confer any health benefits? With the help of a large Norwegian longitudinal health study called HUNT, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) were able to find a clear relationship between time spent in church and lower blood pressure in both women and men.

Resting heart rate and cardiovascular risk
(20.12.2011) In a study of 30,000 apparently healthy men and women, those who had an increase in their resting heart rate over a 10-year period had an increased risk of death from all causes and from ischemic heart disease, according to research published in the December 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA.

The brain's zoom button
(17.11.2011) Everybody knows how to zoom in and out on an online map, to get the level of resolution you need to get you where you want to go. Now NTNU researchers have discovered a key mechanism that can act like a zoom button in the brain, by controlling the resolution of the brain's internal maps.

Insomnia and heart health
(02.11.2011) It's enough to keep you up at night: a study published in the latest issue of Circulation by researchers from NTNU's Faculty of Medicine shows that people who have a hard time falling asleep have a 45 per cent greater risk of heart attack than those who don't.

Cheating Father Time
(11.10.2011) Who is likely to be fitter: a lazy 20-year-old or an active 50-year-old? New research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's K.G. Jebsen Center of Exercise in Medicine provides statistical evidence that the 50-year-old can be every bit as fit as someone 30 years younger.

Urban India -- Challenges and changes
(07.10.2011) India is on track to become the most populous nation in the world, with a projected population of 1.6 billion by 2050. But how can urban planners and city and regional governments handle this huge growth in numbers? India experts say despite the challenges, life in India's cities is improving.

World premiere performance by Anne-Sophie Mutter
(04.10.2011) NTNU Honorary Doctor Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Trondheim Soloists will perform the world premiere of an André Previn composition at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival on 23 September 2012.

Polar oceans in transition
(3.10.2011) Mention climate change and the Arctic, and most people think polar bears. But for Victor Smetacek, a biological oceanographer at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, the real symbols of climate change and the Arctic are elephants and tigers, the iconic animals of his home country of India.

Bringing the groove from India to Norway
(29.09.2011) Take one world renowned tabla player and percussionist, and mix with 10 current and former jazz students: the result is a cross-cultural experiment that will premiere on 1 October 2011 as the kick-off concert for the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's nine-day-long science and arts festival,India 2011.

Millisecond memories
(28.09.2011) An experiment published in the 28 September issue of Nature in which rats are "teleported" shows how memory is organized into discrete 125 millisecond-long packets, enabling a smooth transition between one memory and the next.

Translators of a far-away time
(23.09.2011) Their two countries are hemispheres apart, but Norwegian and Argentinean archaeologists are using the similarities between their countries to compare early man's marine settlements.

Feed your genes
(19.09.2011) What if you could find out how our genes respond to the foods we eat, and what this does to the cellular processes that make us healthy – or not? That's precisely what biologists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have done.

World's first university with indoor navigation app
(31.08.2011) Imagine a navigation system that works where GPS signals don't. With its new "Campus Guide", the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is now the first university in the world where you can navigate from inside a building using a mobile phone.

NTNU brain researchers win Nordic research prize
(25.08.2011) NTNU Professors May-Britt and Edvard Moser have been selected for the 2011 Anders Jahre Award in Medicine, which includes a NOK 1 million (€ 128,000) prize and is considered among the most prestigeous of medical awards in the Nordic countries.

New underwater research laboratory inaugurated
(23.08.2011) With a clip of a robotic hand on an underwater vehicle, Norway's Minister of Trade and Industry officially opened the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's new Applied Underwater Robotics Laboratory.

New supercomputer to be installed at NTNU
(24.06.2011)The Norwegian University of Technology and Science (NTNU) and Silicon Graphics International Corp (SGI) today signed a contract for a new supercomputer to be installed at NTNU by the end of the 2011.

Creating a "perfect eavesdropper" for computer security
(14.06.2011) Researchers in Singapore and Norway have implemented a "perfect eavesdropper" that illustrates an overlooked loophole in secure communications technology in an effort to make quantum cryptography truly secure.

A magic number for heart health
(31.05.2011) Imagine being able to calculate one number that would tell you just how fit you are – and what that means for your heart health. Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have managed exactly that.

Saving soldiers' lives with Norwegian technology
(03.05.2011) A sophisticated piece of equipment that is saving the lives of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan by detecting roadside bombs and land mines grew out of a PhD dissertation at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Choosing the right batteries for the future
(21.04.2011) One of the most important decisions facing designers of plug-in electric or hybrid vehicles is related to battery choice. NTNU researchers have conducted an analysis to help in the decision of which is best.

Crafts, churches and charcoal
(11.04.2011) A thousand years ago, Trondheim was Norway's religious and historical capital -- and researchers have now found more than 500 medieval charcoal pits that help tell the story of that time.

Mystery migraines
(21.03.2011) A comparison of comprehensive data sets 11 years apart shows a small, but real and unexplained increase in migraines, NTNU researchers have found.

Earthquake in Japan
(11.03.11) In connection with the earthquake in Japan and the subsequent tsunami, NTNU's administration is working to obtain an overview of staff and students in the area. This information will be continuously provided Norwegian authorities via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD).

Mercury mystery in the Arctic
(31.01.2011) More mercury ends up in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet -- but why? NTNU researchers think they have found some clues as to the answer -- and the reason may lie in the meterological conditions during the spring and summer.

Secrets in stone
(31.01.2011) It was supposed to be a routine archaeological dig. But then researchers found cryptic petroglyphs of a type never before found in Sør-Trondelag County.

Minister of Research promises continued funding
(10.01.2011) NTNU invests NOK 42 million to crack the brain's secrets. Norway's Minister of Research and Higher Education, Tora Aasland, today laid the foundation stone for the Norwegian Brain Centre (NorBC).